There are countries that are currently and seriously considering establishing an economic system that provides a base income for all of its citizens. Sometimes this is referred to as a UBI (universal base income). Its proponents are intelligent, reasonable people willing to consider improving the current methods of implementing the shared social responsibility we all feel towards each other. Wow.
The advocates of this system aren’t wing nuts or radicals. They’ve reviewed the current status quo, discussed possible ways of either improving the system in the future or changing it altogether, looked closely at the numbers and concluded that, at the very least, it was time to propose an entirely new approach to their social contract with one another.
I’m just saying…we here, in America, have nearly come to blows over the idea of universal health care. A UBI? Unthinkable…unimaginable…preposterous…un-American…end of discussion.
Such a system would completely undermine the dysfunctional, bloated bureaucratic labyrinth we’ve pieced together in hodge podge fashion to waste our resources in the direction of those who have missed the gravy train. Of course, there are a great many of us who would like to see this system changed or significantly altered. Some would even like these programs eliminated and with nothing in their place.
Quite expectedly, this presents a bit of a quandary in the US. We have long prided ourselves as a nation of peoples created equal, who pull together and take care of one another. That’s the theory. That’s one of our founding principles.
And we do. In an emergency, in a crises, in this country, strangers rally to help strangers all the time. It’s not just neighbors helping neighbors.
But it’s the day in and day out needs of the troubled, the less fortunate or the economic nonconformist that we sometimes harden our hearts towards.
Still, anyone with a degree of humanity intact will continue to genuinely want to help the hungry, the sick and the less fortunately born. It’s heart warming. It’s reaffirming. Yet, most would prefer to do it in a fair and respectful way. Most would like to level the economic and social playing field by eliminating the poor’s need to choose between shelterless starving or the ‘loser’ stigma of living on governmental handouts.
If you’ve ever had to stand in those lines and go through that process and live like that for a while, you’ll understand how it feels. It’s unintentionally but inescapably demeaning. It creates a second class of citizen who is ripe for exploitation and abuse.
I’m just saying…most of us have had enough of our experiences with the DMV or the Post Office to be able to imagine how it might feel like to stand in such a line for food, rent or medical care. It’s demoralizing. It’s depersonalizing. It’s nearly dehumanizing. We become a case number. We become a case. We become a number. We become a…”Next”.
It’s natural to feel a sense of shame, of self-loathing and some general, unspecific anger in and at the situation. But these are only the initial feelings. After a while, these feelings morph into much more destructive impulses.
So I’m saying…if you treat a person as ‘less than’ long enough, they either start to believe it and act accordingly with a sense of entitlement or they decide to find ways to behave that ‘prove’ or ‘demonstrate’ otherwise. Not all those ways are constructive. That’s as mildly as I can put it.
The first referendum on a UBI was recently put to a vote. It was defeated soundly. Its proponents expected the proposal to lose but they have begun a discussion that is far from finished.
I encourage all of us to join in this discussion. Our collective path forward requires bold new approaches that enhance equality rather than diminish it.
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